Meet Zoe Reed. She is 26, unmarried, and still living with her parents. She works at a lame craft store, where she feels like her life has become one giant disappointment. She's waiting for Mr. Right, yet having never been on a date—let alone kissed a man—she wonders if he will ever come. When Branson Tate and his three kids stumble into her life, she finds the breathtaking man to be exactly opposite of what her parents want for her. He’s not a virgin, has a crazy past, and three children to prove it. Even still, the moment Branson asks her out for coffee, she hears God tell her to go, and her life begins to flip upside down.
Author: Natasha House
When Natasha House wakes up in the morning she's got one thing on her brain: writing. "How do normal people think? I mean wouldn't it be boring not having a book in your brain to entertain you?" Natasha works a "normal" job along with pursuing writing. "I randomly grab a scrap piece of paper and furiously scribble. People probably think I'm nuts when I'm talking to myself, but I'm just talking to the characters in my head." Natasha is happily married. She enjoys singing. "I've written over 30 songs including one called: It's coffee time. What can I say I love coffee." Natasha loves writing different genres including: sci-fi, romance, fantasy, middle grade, and paranormal. "If you read my book Superhero princess you might have a laugh-attack, while my other books are more serious toned. I really love my screwball characters. They entertain me the most." Natasha House's dream is to one day write full time. She loves making people laugh, sit on the edge of their seat, and dive into a world they might not want to come out of.Excerpt: Chapter 1
It was always nine o’clock. Why was it always nine o’clock? I swear nine o’clock hated me. One more hour of retail torture. Can you tell I loved this job? I stared at the crafty supplies that lined shelf after shelf. They mocked me, those little googly eyes that said, “Your life is pointless, Zoe, absolutely pointless.” A ding-dong rang through the small craft store, and I looked up. Who the crap buys glue sticks and glitter at nine o’clock? A little girl ran in. Great. It’s not that I don’t like kids. Kids are great. It’s them knocking over everything in the store that annoys me to no end. Next, another little girl ran in with blond hair. They were identical.
“CC, and, Evie, don’t touch!” a man said as he held a baby girl in his arms, her wild red ringlets bouncing as he jogged to catch up to the rugrats that just ran amuck in my store.
“Hey! Where did you girls go?”
I watched the man chase the two little girls down the toy aisle. We have a very small toy selection. It mostly consists of toy parts, but kids always run that way. I smiled despite myself. It was pretty funny to watch. It reminded me of a bunch of runaway monkeys at the zoo. The guy was…half cute too. Hey, I’m female I notice these things. The little girl in his arms squealed with joy as he caught up to the twin girls, who looked about three-years-old. The little girl in his arms was roughly around nine months if I was guessing. He grabbed a cart, picked up the twins, and put them inside. The little girls started hugging each other. That was adorable. At least I think they were hugging, or choking each other, I couldn’t tell. There were a lot of giggles going on.
“We just need milk, guys. Milk.” I heard the amusement in the man’s voice. I followed their little entourage with my eyes as they zipped down the wrong aisle. Milk was the other way. I slipped out from behind the counter. I walked quickly toward them and went around the corner. I kept my eyes on the guy and wasn’t watching where I was going when bam! I slammed into a display of cans. We also carry canned food. I know, it’s a weird craft store. It’s called Little Bit of Everything. The name fits too. We even carry toilet plungers in aisle three. The man and his kids turned around at the ruckus I just caused. I blushed two shades of red as he whipped the cart around toward me.
“Are you alright?” His twins started scrambling out of the cart and tried to pick up the cans that were rolling under the counter and down the aisle like mini racecars.
“Milk! Milk!” the twins chanted. Oh man. I had made a huge mess for myself. I slapped my hands over my face and let out a breath. Okay, Zoe, you can do this.
“I’m fine, thanks. I was…just going to tell you the milk is the other way.” I should have just let him wander around the store. So much for being helpful.
He laughed. “Thanks.” He stuck the baby in the cart and strapped her in. “CC, Evie, let’s help okay?” he said to the little girls that were chasing the cans all around the place. It was the cutest thing in the world. I giggled. It was really funny. We started restacking the goofy cans of only God-knows-what. I think they were cans of spinach. Where was Popeye when I needed him? The little people helped gather the runaways and giggled the whole time. Their dad made a game out of it, which I thought was amusing. Soon my whole display of cans was back in one piece.
“Thanks,” I said still feeling flushed. His warm brown eyes were staring at my face. He was wearing a black, light weighted, zip up hoodie, and dark jeans.
“You’re welcome…um…?” His kids started playing with the bags of toys hanging up behind us. These girls were sure active!
“Zoe.”
“Branson. Do you…ugh…Evie, CC, don’t put that in your mouth!” He flashed me a nice straight smile, his sandy brown hair was slightly spiked in the front. I did a quick glance at his left hand and ring finger. No ring. Whoa. Was this guy just a major player or what? Or did he just not wear his wedding ring like some of the other married men I’ve known. I let out an inward sigh. I’m 26 and counting. My parents have more than once reminded me of this fact. I’ve seen almost all of my friends marry off and multiply like rabbits.
“Milk?” he asked and tickled his little girl’s neck. She giggled and waved her hands around.
“It’s over here, I’ll show you.” I blushed as I led the way to the other side of the store. I still felt like an idiot about the stacked cans. Branson reached into the cooler, grabbed a gallon of milk, and placed it into the cart. He then raced to the front of the store making his kids scream with glee as they followed behind him. I rang him up and smiled at the little munchkins. They were so adorable. The twins made my heart melt. They were wearing matching purple dresses that looked like some sort of Disney princess, and I could see the leftovers of little kid makeup on their cheeks. They had round, Dora the explorer faces, that you just wanted to kiss. Ah! So cute! The baby was petite, with red curls, big green eyes, and she was wearing a little pink jump suit with bugs on it.
“Milk, milk! Daddy, we got milk!” the twins said together running in little circles. They reminded me of two little puppies chasing their tails. Cute as heck.
“It was nice to meet you, Zoe. Say goodbye to Zoe, girls!” He tickled the little baby’s chin again. She giggled and clapped her hands, her two little teeth showing when she smiled. The twins bounced up and down. “Bye, Zoe! Bye!”
“Bye, guys!” I said smiling, their joy was infectious.
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